Human
by pennyhofstadter
Summary: "He knew Emma was in to get hurt again. He knew Josh was always onto the next girl within a few days. It was a miracle he had waited this long. Emma just didn't understand it – Josh was a player. And that's all he'd ever be." Emma Geller-Green/Sam Dorian.


_**He's really good at lying, yeah,**_

_**He'll leave you in the dust,**_

'_**Cause when he says forever,**_

_**Well, it don't mean much.**_

_**Hey, good girl**_

_**So good for him**_

_**Better back away, honey,**_

_**You don't know where he's been.**_

_Good Girl – Carrie Underwood._

* * *

Emma stretched out her sore leg muscles, distributing her weight evenly in the small chair. Josh moved his arm under her, his bicep flexing against the back of her head. Emma threw her legs over him, because she couldn't get comfortable any other way. "It's a little cramped in here, huh?" Josh realized with a chuckle.

Emma laughed back, shifting her body again only to send her elbow into Josh's ribcage, earning a gasp of pain from his lips. "Oh, I'm sorry!" She apologized. She rubbed the spot with her fingers where her bone had just dug into him, trying to soothe the irritation. "It's all good." Josh laughed back. He wrapped his arm around Emma's shoulders, pulling her a little bit closer to him just the slightest bit. Emma kicked her feet up again, pressing the soles of them against the leather of the seat they were both twisted into, "Just a little cramped." She agreed with his earlier statement.

She sighed, her nimble fingers drumming a pattern against Josh's sturdy chest. "What's on your mind, Emma?" Josh asked sweetly, his observant hazel eyes locking on her steady brown ones.

Emma tried to shrug her shoulders, but only made herself more uncomfortable with the slightest movement, so she spoke instead, "I've been thinking a lot." She said reluctantly.

Things had seemed to change between her and Josh. After her birthday, where Josh had waltzed into her party late because he was out with another girl, stayed for a while and then left, he had begun acting sweet towards her again, almost trying to charm her back to being interested in him. He was goofing off and flirting with her like he had been a year ago. Emma loved the attention, but a small part of her silently wondered if he meant all of what he was doing, or if he even knew how much it meant to her – and finally, that part was ready to speak up.

"Thinking about what?" Josh pressed. He was absentmindedly stroking the side of her body, his fingers dragging up and down her fabric covered torso. Emma's trance was broken from the feeling, but as soon as he realized she took notice, he stopped, his cheeks flushing the slightest bit. "About you." Emma mumbled, suddenly finding the ceiling very interesting.

"About this." He clarified. It was more of a statement than a question, so Emma didn't see it fit to respond. She just nodded.

"Well, we're friends right?" Josh's voice cracked a little, something that only happened when he was extremely nervous, and Emma knew that. She smiled to herself, trying to keep her lips from twitching. "Yeah." She agreed as she felt Josh start rubbing her arm again. She could feel the heat from his fingertips through the thin fabric of her t-shirt. "We're friends."

"Friends don't do that." Sam grumbled, stuffing another potato chip in his mouth as he watched Josh leave to take a call in the hallway. Emma giggled before stealing one out of the bag of chips on Sam's lap, popping it into her mouth before turning back to the television program they were watching. "You know Josh is a flirt." She replied through crunchy chews.

"He hurt you, Emma." Sam reminded her. A frown tugged at Emma's lips. She had already pretty much forgiven Josh for what he did to her. They agreed that they would at least be civil with one another. He had thrown her for a loop with the whole Ashley thing on her birthday, but she was over it, and he had more than made up for it with his loving antics lately. As much as she forgave Josh, she could tell her own best friend did not. Sam had seen Josh hurt Emma one too many times, even after he promised him countless times that Emma wouldn't be like the rest of them, but a year later, Josh left her battered and broken, crying on her bedroom floor after a bad breakup.

Sam had lost some respect for him with the way he had treated his so called 'best friend.' Sam loved Emma, and he wasn't about to let her fall back into Josh's death trap.

"It's okay now, Sam." Emma reminded him, "It's been a year." Anger surged through Sam's body. He didn't understand how Emma could be so forgiving. "Don't forget all those nights he made you spend crying yourself to sleep, Emma. He might as well have ripped your heart out of your chest, smashed it, and sprinkled the pieces all across the Western Hemisphere."

"Well, I see someone's bitter." Emma joked, bumping her elbow against his body. Sam remained stiff on the couch, staring straight ahead, "I don't want to see you so broken again." He informed her. Emma sighed. She leaned her head on his shoulder, her blonde hair spilling down in light waves, "Sam, it's okay. I'm over it."

"He didn't treat you well, at all." Sam replied. He showed no affection back, which was a definite change. Emma had always brought out the real Sam. She was one of the few people who could make him smile – really smile, teeth and all.

"Sam," Emma sighed. She looped her arm through his, tangling herself up in him, "What happened between Josh and me is in the past. I don't want you thinking any less of him because of what he did to me. He has good intentions and you know that."

"Stop defending him, Emma." Sam mumbled. He stuffed another handful of chips into his mouth, staring dead in front of him at the television screen. Emma sighed. Sam was going to be in another quiet mood again. She rubbed her head against his shoulder before settling there, dragging his hand into his lap so she could play with his fingers. "You love me, right?" Emma asked Sam softly, "Do this for me. Please, Sam."

"Hey, Emma," Emma heard Josh's voice from the doorway. "Speak of the devil." Sam grumbled. He crunched on more chips before turning his head. Emma leaned her head back, so she was staring at the upside down doorway, her hair falling down the back of the couch. Josh appeared in her vision, a frown gracing his features. "Uh…" Josh mumbled. He brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck, "Ashley's coming to dinner tonight." He informed her softly. Emma's head snapped up, her eyes welling up with tears. Luckily, the way her hair fell around her face managed to cover it, "Oh." She said simply.

"Yeah." Josh replied awkwardly. He continued to rub the back of his neck, standing stupidly in the doorway, not sure what to do about the situation he had suddenly found himself in. "Well, I'm going to…go." He finished slowly. Emma nodded, keeping her back turned towards him so he couldn't see the devastated expression on her face. She heard his footsteps in the hallway before Sam crunched down on more food, drowning out everything else. "I told you so." He said simply.

"Why would he invite her to dinner?" Emma asked. She knew the answer, in the back of her mind, but she couldn't bring herself to believe something like that. Josh wouldn't do that to her. Not after he had been flirting with her like crazy all week long. "Do you think they're going out or something?" Emma continued to pelt her friend with questions, all of which he answered with a shrug or a shake of his head. He knew Emma was in to get hurt again. He knew Josh was always onto the next girl within a few days. It was a miracle he had waited this long. Emma just didn't understand it – Josh was a player. And that's all he'd ever be.

* * *

Emma rolled out of her bed and stumbled into the bathroom, digging her knuckles against her closed eyelids, trying to get herself to wake up. She had barely made it into her bed last night before she fell asleep. She had cried herself sick, clutched to Sam's chest, hands fisted in his t-shirt.

Sam stayed up with her until she fell asleep. With every tear that fell from Emma's eyes, Sam became more and more furious at Josh for being so oblivious to the hurt he was causing his best friend. And he planned to confront Josh about it. That is, if he could ever tear Josh away from Ashley.

Emma continued to rub her eyes, pulling her hair out of the loose bun atop her head and rustling it with her fingers. She massaged her scalp, trying to rid herself of a throbbing headache. She opened up the cabinet that her parents kept the coffee in, until something caught her eye on the kitchen table.

Emma suddenly felt awake. She took a seat in front of the gift someone had left her. A smile crossed her lips as she picked up the note. It was written in messy scrawl, on a piece of scrap paper.

_Brought you coffee and food. Figured you'd need it. See you at Joey's. –Sam._

She smiled to herself, pulling her favorite iced drink out of the cardboard cup holder. The condensation puddled in her hand as she wrapped her lips around the green straw, taking a nice long sip of the slushy coffee mix. She grabbed the paper bag, which was folded nicely at the top, and settled herself on the couch, turning on the morning news as she ate the blueberry muffin Sam had left her, along with her coffee.

* * *

Emma spotted the back of Sam's head as soon as she walked into the apartment that afternoon. She walked over to him, placing her hand on his shoulder and leaning up to talk softly into his ear. "Thank you so much for this morning." Sam smirked once he figured out whose voice he was hearing. He turned his head to the side to reply to her, underestimating her close proximity. His sudden movement caused Emma's glossed lips to brush across his cheekbone.

Emma pulled off of Sam, embarrassment taking over her features. Sam's cheeks turned bright red as he wiped the smudge of sparkly lip gloss off his cheek. "Sorry." Emma mumbled, pulling on the hem of her crop top. "It's okay." Sam recovered quickly, giving her a soft smile as he stuck his hand in his pockets awkwardly, focusing on the TV.

The calming silence of the apartment was suddenly shattered as everyone else started to arrive. Phoebe came in first, dropping her guitar from her hands, placing it on the couch.

Emma smiled her greeting to Phoebe before scrolling through twitter on her iPhone. She glanced up to see who was making a noise now. She instantly regretted her decision, gluing her eyes to her phone and trying to lose herself in Sam, Joey and Phoebe's conversation.

"I hate him." Sam was muttering. "Josh runs off with a new damn girl every ten minutes." Phoebe laughed. When Sam got angry, honestly he was funny. He very rarely yelled, usually just mumbled under his breath, waiting for someone to agree and sympathize with him. Emma's eyes travelled from her phone, around the apartment again, taking in the people around her. She noticed Phoebe and Chandler had also arrived.

She couldn't help it when her eyes locked on Josh. They seemed to always do that lately. Things had been awkward and uncomfortable for the both of them, but every once in a while, Josh would start dropping hints that he wanted them to change.

It wasn't until a few seconds later that Emma noticed Ashley hanging off of Josh's arm. Her highlighted hair fell down to her shoulders, a tight black tank top hugged her torso and super short cut-off jeans showed off her tanned legs. Emma felt sick just looking at her. The way she seemed to claw her hand against his chest of lean her head on his shoulder. Emotion flooded Emma's body. She wanted to look away but somehow she couldn't. She simply stared longingly after them. As much as she hated Josh for doing this to her, a small part of her secretly wished that he would break away from Ashley, come over here and wrap Emma in his arms, whispering in her ear and kissing her cheek.

Instead, she was faced with reality. Which was Sam tugging on her shoulder. "You okay?" His fingers dug into her flesh softly as he pulled her towards him, trying to get her to break her gaze from Josh and Ashley. When she turned to face him, the heartbreak in her eyes was instantly covered with a stoic mask. Sam held out his arms to her. She wrapped her arms around his neck lightly. "Thanks." She said in gratitude before letting everyone know she was leaving, that she was "tired." She tried to block the image of Josh and Ashley from her mind, but she couldn't quite shake it. She could still see them, wrapped up in each other, from the corner of her eye, if she tilted her head to the right slightly. The view was slowly driving her crazy.

* * *

Emma stayed in her room, alone, losing herself in a dumb cable movie as she chomped down on a bag of potato chips. She ignored the fact that she could still hear the high tones of Ashley's voice in her head, squealing and giggling every once in a while.

She stayed in her own hollow shell of a room until her parents came home, and she talked to her mother about a couple of irrelevant things to keep her mind off of Josh and Ashley.

* * *

**Okay. Yes, I know I used this idea. I didn't really like the way it was going with Leonard/Penny, so I decided to change it up a little bit. I really hope you guys like it as much as I do. **

**Yes, the other characters will be introduced in the next chapter, I just wanted to focus on Emma and Josh's relationship, and how Sam felt about it. **


End file.
